Need Me

I liked this story better than the first book. 🌶️ scenes are GREAT. Storyline is cute. I enjoyed it.

Just when you think you've read the perfect book and everything else will dim by comparison, you read the next Tessa Bailey novel in the series and are proven so completely wrong. This novel had me laughing until I cried, and crying until I laughed. To say I loved it, is such a massive understatement. Can't wait to read next one. Keep writing Ms Bailey and I promise to keep reading. You have become my absolute favorite author, which is no easy feat.

The first I have read by this author, Need Me is the ‘forbidden’ romance in the series, college student and her professor. I didn’t have difficulty in understanding the connections in this story, and the writing kept me engaged and involved. Honey is a small town girl in the big city: she wants change, she craves it and excitement. A pre-med student, we are repeatedly told she is a bright and clever student, with a promising future. And then she meets Ben, a friend of her best friend’s boyfriend and a play on the 5 minutes in the closet game and we are off on hormone central. Ben is a professor, a YOUNG professor of literature, and aware that his age puts him on the administration’s radar: worried about the potential of student teacher relationships, he really needs to watch his behavior. He keeps a remove from his students, but one student writing has him determined to know more. This was an interesting story: the heat was incredibly well written, but the back and forth and bad choices, the lack of correlation between us being TOLD Honey is smart and her wholly immature and often senseless choices where Ben is concerned were frustrating. I get it – she’s young and a bit innocent…. but OMG…. And Ben, misguided needs a pan to the side of his head Ben: dropping her under the bus and saving your own arse while constantly NOT being clear? You could have (and should have) waited for the term to end… But then, Tessa Bailey writes steam and dirty talk better than anyone I have encountered. Yes, there is plenty of steam, and Ben is quite creative in his speech. The lightness of their relationship, the all in you are my soulmate rapidity kept me from buying in to them as a solid couple, but even that didn’t take away the need for an icy cold drink. Like many NA stories, I’m more frustrated with the character’s immaturity than I ever am with the instant connections: you are supposed to love quick, hard and often until you have a real sense of self and what you need and deserve at that age- make those mistakes and learn from them. What I didn’t see here was much learning from bad acts, or the self-confidence from Honey to demand a long, slow grovel from Ben. For he had many moments he should have been crawling. On his knees. Over hot coals. With a weight on his back. I can’t wait for the next. I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.